Sex, sport and gossip: the executive mindset

Sex,
sport and colleagues’ personal lives are the main things on bored executive
minds during meetings, according to a new survey.

The
Mindjet Business Meetings Study found that most workers believed the quality of
meetings was getting worse and was a drain on their productivity.

The
poll of more than 331 office workers across all industries found that 23 per
cent of employees thought about the personal lives of colleagues attending the
same meeting, while 15 per cent thought about shopping and 20 per cent about
sex.

However,
food also proved to be a mental stimulant in meeting rooms, with 21 per cent of
the respondents admitting they thought about it.

Work
was not seen as a creative environment, with 63 per cent stating that ideas
came from outside the office.

Peter
Bragg, UK country manager for Mindjet, said people have had enough of
traditional meeting formats and the poor productivity that they generate.

"Better
team collaboration comes not just from better structured and better organised
meetings, but by using tools that capture data and enable it to be shared and
utilised far more effectively,” he said.

“Failure
to make meetings more engaging is becoming an increasingly costly exercise for
employers."